Ketchikan in the Rain

 

Ketchikan, our last stop on the Coral Princess (7/7/12), lived up to it’s reputation – it rained all day. The average annual rainfall is about 15 feet.  Despite the ”liquid sunshine” as locals call it, we enjoyed seeing this charming little town on our trolley tour.

      

The town stretches 31 miles long but never more than 10 blocks wide because of the terrain. Historic Creek Street, a boardwalk road built over Ketchikan Creek on pilings, has shops as well as Dolly’s House.  Can you guess what Dolly’s was?  (It’s still raining as you can see from the water drops on the camera lens).

     

The highlight of the trolley tour was visiting Saxman Native Village where native people were erecting a new totem pole.

     

It was quite interesting to see how the men moved the heavy totem pole from the building and anchored it in the ground.

     

     

                      

This little guy held on to the the rope too as his dad helped pull the totem pole in place.

                       

There was a brief ceremony after the new totem pole was erected.

                        

The new totem pole joined a “garden” of poles of various types:

    

      

After returning to the Coral Princess, we enjoyed afternoon tea, nice and hot after our wet and chilly excursion.  We got one last view of this charming town as we sailed through Tongass Narrows heading south to Vancouver and the end of our cruise.

     

Juneau, Alaska’s Capital

 

On Friday, July 6, 2012, we disembarked in Juneau, the capital of Alaska, to see purple iris blooming near the dock – flowers that bloom in Rome in April or May.  We took a look back at the Coral Princess before boarding our bus for a tour of the Alaska State Museum with much history of Alaska.

                         

                         

From there we went to Mendenhall Glacier about 12 miles from downtown Juneau,  Approximately 12 miles long, Mendenhall is a retreating glacier unlike Hubbard which is advancing.  We heard an informative talk given by the ranger before going to the Visitor’s Center to learn more about Mendenhall.

           

           

           

           

Our next stop on the tour was Juneau Rainforest Garden, a small but attractive garden thriving in the very wet climate of Juneau and containing wildflowers, ferns, swamp cabbage, iris, and other native plants.

   

From the garden, we returned to the Coral Princess and enjoyed the sights and ship board activities.

           

                

          

Skagway: White Pass & Yukon RR

 

                

We arrived in Skagway on Thursday, July 5, 2012, for our much anticipated ride on the White Pass and Yukon Railroad, and we certainly were not disappointed.  When we docked, we could see the train beside the Coral Princess and also the wall beside the train where ships’ crews have painted their ships’ logos. 

     

                

George had a strategy for getting on the end car of the train. When it failed and it looked like there would be no way of getting on the car, Irene saved the day by running ahead and persuading the end car attendant to let us on. Thanks, Irene!        

     

     

The White Pass and Yukon route took us up the mountain, alongside walls of stone, over trestles, through tunnels, and around horseshoe curves.  It was a fantastic train ride, and all the train buffs and photographers vied for space on the rear platform to capture the scenes.

     

                   

     

More fantastic railroad engineering came into view as we continued toward White Pass.

     

     

     

     

White Pass was marked with a large sign, national flags, and more beautiful alpine scenery.

    

     

We enjoyed riding the White Pass & Yukon Railroad, especially being able to see the sights and take photos from the rear of the train, and we had more great views on the return trip.

           

           

When the train returned to Skagway, George continued on to the cruise ship dock, and Irene got off to explore the town of Skagway.  Bye-Bye, George!

      

Cruising Glacier Bay

                                                                  

We boarded the Coral Princess around noon on Monday, July 2,2012, found our cabin, and ate lunch.  We spent most of the afternoon exploring the ship and watching trains and buses bring more passengers.  Our luggage was late arriving because we received a free cabin upgrade to a balcony.  We enjoyed the balcony but would probably use it more in a warmer climate.

     

We sailed toward Glacier Bay on Tuesday, July 3, expecting to see Hubbard Glacier, the largest tidewater glacier in North America, on Monday.  Unfortunately, between fog and icy waters, the ship was unable to continue to Hubbard. Both Hubbard’s size (76 miles long, 1200 deep, 40 stories high) and the fact that it calves (has huge chunks of ice the size of i10 story buildings breaking off) make it an outstanding sight.  It was a disappointment to miss Hubbard Glacier, but we still saw beautiful ice formations. 

     

     

     

         

    

     

Princess cruise’s Schorlarship@Sea program featured Alaskan naturalist Kathy Slamp who lived for many years in Alaska.  She gave several lectures about Alaska, growing up there, and the glaciers. She narrated as we passed through Glacier Bay.  Also, National Park Service rangers came aboard to speak about the glaciers and answer questions.